Ship Tattoos – Meaning – Sailing

Ship Tattoo meaning – life/road/journey (basically you sail through life, even if bad things happen), courage (like Poseidon), spirit (like a dove), honor (like an anchor), survival (on the sea/at war – like the searhose). The ship tattoos can be also related to death (just like a Grim Reaper). Vikings believed that people sail in the after-life, so a ship tattoo could be a good one to have after someone you love, dies, yet you want to remember him or her. Want some pictures for your tattoo?

Old School tattoo: along with others – dagger tattoos, rose tattoos and more. A little bit of history of sailor tattoos: it seems the first sailors to ever get tattoos (is it?) were from the ship from Captain James Cook in the years 1700. It happened in Tahiti. Altough that back then, ship tattoos were mostly used by men (sailors), now they can be used by both men and women. They mean both life and journey, so they fit for both men and women.

Sailor Jerry: “Sailor Jerry” was both a sailor and a tattoo artist for the sailors. Today, most people getting a ship tattoo know something about Sailor Jerry. He was an expert in the following sailor tattoos: snake, eagle, dice and anchors. And many more. He was born in 1911 and died in 1973.

Viking ships: one of the reasons that some people choose viking ship tattoos is because of their history and symbolism. Do you know that vikings were burried on their ships? They believe that after-life you sail along the sea.

Ghost ships: altough not 100% real (it’s a legend or more), a lot of people are interested in getting ghost ship tattoos. You can find here and entire list of ghost ships.

Pirate ships: what is the meaning of pirate ship tattoos? Basically those kind of ships used by pirates to steal. For some, an interesting ship tattoo to have. For others, not exactly.

Clipper ships: these type of ships were mostly used in the 19’th century.You can read more about them here. I am sure lots of people have these tattoos, yet more people are interested in them.

Celebrities with famous Ship Tattoos– Harry Styles (a ship tattoo along with others, such as: bird tattoo, butterfly tattoo and more). I am sure there are tons of other celebrities/sailors with ship tattoos, but I don’t know about them now. If you want to share more celebrity names, be my guest. More pictures: